One of the main ways running protects you from arthritis is by maintaining you at a healthy weight. This leads us to our next point.

3. Weight Loss

Obesity is a strong risk factor for knee pain and increases the risk of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.

Women who are overweight are four times more likely to develop knee OA than women who are a healthy weight. And men who are overweight are five times more likely to develop OA than men who are a healthy weight.

But losing even a small amount of weight can be beneficial. For people who are overweight, every 5 kg of weight loss can reduce the risk of knee OA by more than 50 percent.

4. Medication

Medications such as panadol and anti-inflammatories have their place when you have an acute flare-up of knee pain.

But they are not designed for long-term use, due to their side effects on the liver and gastro-intestinal system.

5. Arthroscopic Surgery

Traditionally, arthroscopic surgery has been performed for chronic knee pain. Over the past few years however the research has indicated that for people with degenerative knee pain (including meniscal lesions), performing arthroscopic surgery does not improve outcomes.

The evidence refuting arthroscopy to treat meniscal degeneration and knee osteoarthritis (OA) is now clear and compelling. In Australia, the number of arthroscopies for degenerative knee pain has halved since 2011.

If the knee pain and degeneration is severe, conservative measures have been tried and you are having difficulty functioning day to day, then a Total Knee Replacement would be a logical thing to consider in consultation with your doctor.

However, the point being made here is that arthroscopic surgery is not required for degenerative knees.

Of course with any surgery there is the risk of infection and blood clots forming in the leg, as well as post-op recovery and rehabilitation for a few months afterwards.

6. Exercise therapy: the treatment of choice for Knee OA

Exercise therapy has the best evidence providing both short and long term benefits to people with knee OA.

High-quality evidence suggest that land-based therapeutic exercise provides benefits in terms of reduced knee pain and improved quality of life (Bennell et al 2015). This benefit can be sustained for 2-6 months after cessation of formal treatment.

Exercise therapy involves a combination of supervised sessions with a health professional to target:

strength

cardiovascular fitness

flexibility

neuro-muscular retraining

Getting all the pieces of the puzzle to get you back to doing what you love.

As you begin an exercise program, you may need to allow a period of 'body tuning' i.e. using manual therapy, taping, massage and dry needling to improve tissue quality and joint alignment.

Similar to playing an instrument, tuning up before hand makes things perform much better and reduces pain and tightness.

This is where are a good Physio comes in, who has a deep understanding of knee pain and a passion for helping people overcome it.

We do that everyday of the week and you can find out more about us here.

Summary

We know that movement and exercise can be what truly helps knee pain.

The evidence is compelling.

It addresses all of the modifiable factors that can get you out of reactive mode, and into building your foundation.